In its first collaboration with Oracle around cloud, CenturyLink is expanding its cloud services with Oracle’s FastConnect.

CenturyLink will offer dedicated and private access to Oracle Cloud through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect. With CenturyLink Cloud Connect Solutions and Oracle’s FastConnect service, customers get a direct, secure connection that does not traverse the public internet, delivering a consistent experience for users of demanding enterprise workloads.

CenturyLink’s Michael Dews

Michael Dews, CenturyLink’s director of product management for cloud solutions, tells Channel Partners that CenturyLink Cloud Connect gives partners the ability to give their customers private connections to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for “improved security, predictable performance and high-bandwidth that is ideal for hybrid cloud use cases, versus typical internet connectivity.”

“CenturyLink Cloud Connect enables partners to better serve the hybrid cloud needs of their customers,” he said. “Analysts agree that the vast majority of enterprises spanning most verticals today are using hybrid cloud for production workloads. CenturyLink has years of experience as we have numerous Cloud Connect customers today in health care, financial services, retail, entertainment, manufacturing and government sectors.”

The collaboration came about as CenturyLink has been discussing private connections to Oracle with that company’s cloud team for some time, and “our go-forward offerings are a good fit for both Oracle and CenturyLink customers,” Dews said.

CenturyLink is a silver member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

“Our integration with Oracle FastConnect provides our customers a network experience that matches their cloud experience,” said Chris McReynolds, CenturyLink’s vice president of core network services. “In today’s rapidly changing IT environment, our customers need a network that can adapt with their cloud workloads. Our Ethernet services connectivity offers real-time network visibility and dynamic bandwidth, providing enterprises with control and scalability across their entire cloud ecosystem.”

Oracle Cloud offers complete SaaS application suites for enterprise resource management (ERP), human capital management and customer experience, plus database PaaS and IaaS from data centers throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Organizations are using Oracle Cloud globally to “innovate faster, improve customer engagement, drive business-process efficiency and accelerate digital transformation,” according to CenturyLink.